LONDON: The UAE embassy in the US on Wednesday called on the Biden administration and Congress to support the re-designation of the Houthi militia as a foreign terrorist organization.
Three people were killed and eight wounded after a Houthi missile and drone attack set off an explosion next to oil giant ADNOC's storage facilities and started a fire at Abu Dhabi airport, police said.
The UAE’s ambassador to the US, Yousef Al-Otaiba, also summarized a phone call between the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the embassy said.
The two officials agreed on unity of action in response to the Houthi terror attack and discussed urgent steps to tighten air defenses against missiles and drones and enhanced maritime security to stop weapons flows, the embassy said.
The ambassador will join the UAE Director of National Intelligence, Ali Al-Shamsi, for meetings with the White House and Congress later on Wednesday in Washington DC, the embassy added.
Later on Wednesday, Al-Otaiba said the Houthis targeted civilian sites in the UAE using a “combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones.”
“Several attacks” were carried out, and some of the projectiles were intercepted while a “few of them” were not, Al-Otaiba said during remarks at a virtual event hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
